Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Pues this week has been sooo great! I had
changes and I am no longer a San Blas sister. They actually took out all the
sisters on Blas and now there are all Elders. We are really running low on
sister missionaries here on Panama so we have had to close a lot of sister
areas. So my comp,Hermana Anderson and I were the last sister missionaries on
Blas. Kinda cool. 5 months on an island was the best but I was glad for
changes.

Now I have a new companion Hermana Garcia and also a new
area. I am now in the area of Colon which by the way is the best ever. We live
in the ghetto haha.. Here in colon is where we take the diablo rojos which in
English would be red devil. They are buses that play really loud music and they
have lights and crazy people. Its a school bus on steroids to say the least.
Its so AMAZING! The people here are great. There are a ton of black people and
they all speak spanish, which I thought was very weird but cool at the same
time. My companion is Hermana Garcia and she is from Cali. Although her name
sounds latin she is not. Her Grandmother was from cuba so thats where she gets
her last name from. Hermana Garcia is awesome!! We get along great, she is
pretty much me but different haha. So yeah shes great.

So we have already had soooo many experiences this week...

1. So here we are walking down the street contacting
some houses when all of a sudden this guy from across the street starts to yell
out... "Aye Barbie" and we are just really what?? So he just kept
yelling it tell we looked at him. We walked across the street and he said that
he wants to learn more about our church and wants us to come to his house right
at that second. We could tell that he had been drinking so we told him that we
would come back another day and he refused to tell us where he lived. Which I
thought was strange being as he contacted us haha. So he walks us to the end of
the street to where we meet his friend by the name of verde. Which if you know
Spanish that means green. So his friends name is green (yes like the color) and
he tells him that we are gonna come to his house. Then he asked my comp if she
could come alone. My comp looked at me... now lets take a step back for a
second. My comp only has 2 changes in the mission. This is her third and she is
still learning spanish.... So back to the story. My comp looks at me as if she couldnt
believe what she heard. She thought it was the Spanish but when she looked at
me and saw my face she knew that thats what he had asked. So we explained that
we have rules as missionaries and that we have to stay together all the time
and he was like "its cool my grandma will be home". My comp and I
looked at each other and started to laugh so hard. The guy then kept trying to
flirt with my comp so me... being Hermana Patrick and all, asked him if he had
a wife and kids. He said yes. Then I asked him why he was trying to flirt with
my comp if he had a wife and kids. 9 kids by the way... He then said "look
at my hand, do you see a ring? NO, So its okay". Then he said, "my
wife doesnt have to know what I do". We were so sad but laughed because he
was really drunk and couldnt even stand up. We then talk to him about eternal
families and he didnt really want to listen. He just flirting with my comp.
Then in the middle of me talk he puts his finger up to my face and tells me to
hush. He then asked my comp if she was married. My comp looked at me and I
shouted YES! haha. Then he walked away. So that was really fun! Actually really
funny!!

2. We had the BEST lesson ever!! So we have an investigator
named Jose. He is this really tall black guy and his mom reminds me of my
grandma Carol. She is soo soo sweet. She is a member but Jose is not. Jose is
about 25 years old. His picture will be in the email. But we thought him about
the restoration of the Gospel and he loved it. He will be baptized in the
coming week but we have to finish teaching him the lessons. The problem with
that is is that he lives in the ghetto ghetto so the Elders have to come with
us to the lessons because we cant go by ourselves. But he is the best. Speaking
of him, his mom just called and she wanted me to say hi to everyone so Hi
haha.

3. We had another great lesson with Michell. She is 21 and
amazing. We were teaching her about the gospel of Jesus Christ and at the end
of the lesson we asked if she wanted to be baptized by someone who hold the
preisthood and she said "clearly I want to!!!!!" It was amazing. So
she will actually be baptized this Sunday. She great!

So yeah that was all. I am also starting the Book of Mormon
again but this time I am studying it so much better. I have tons of things
marked and have learned many new things. It is really such a great book. My
testimony is growing so much and I feel like such a different person. I know
that Heavenly Father really does love each and everyone of us. The more I teach
that to people the more I understand. I really love being a missionary. The
work is great and so is Panama. (they beat USA in soccer the other day, that
was sad but cool haha). I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!! Oh
and make sure to take advantage of priesthood blessings. That was one thing I
wish I would have done before the mission. They are amazing!!

With love,

Hna. Patrick

The pictures are of a diablo rojo and Jose and his family.
As there is a picture with my new comp and I. She is the one on the left. The
white one haha

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

So this week has just gone by soo fast. I feel
like when your in the city the mission just flies but when your on the islands
its sooo slow haha.

Well this week was fun... We are still in the city with the
sisters here and there area is amazing. I got to go to church in almost ALL
english. It was like a ward from the states. In this area there are tons of
Americans because they all work in the embassy and things like that. So not
everyone but a lot of people speak English here. It has been great to be here
for the past week.

So church was amazing and not only that but the members here
are from the states or are married to someone from the states so they all cook
American food. IT IS AMAZING!! I have had sooo much food this week that I think
I gained like 20 pounds haha. Which is good because everyone says I lost wait
on San Blas.

So fun things for this week...

1. We met a crazy black lady this week. She was AMAZING
haha.. So we were contacting everyone and no one would let us in or take are
cards. They all told us that they didnt want to listen and same old things that
people tell you when they dont want to listen. So we knocked on this ladies
door and she didnt want to listen so she told us to go talk to her neighbor. So
we did. We knocked on the door and she swung it open and starts talking really
ghetto spanish to us. She asked us where we were from and when she found out
what church we went to she yelled "oh their Mormons" to the people
inside the house. She asked is where we were from and then I told her the
states. She asked where we lived at in the city and we told her. Then she said
"so you walked all the way hear?" and we said yes, then she was like
come in!! So we came in and she was like you have a few mins to tell me about
what the Mormons are and thats it. She didnt want to read anything she just
wanted to know why are church was sooo different then the others. So we
explained the Restoration of the Gospel to her in 5 mins. We told her that we
had apostles and prophets that still walk the earth today. She liked the
message but then went to tell us about 20 other churchs and how they all
believe in God so they are all good. We just explained that we are the only
true church today and she understod that. So she gave us some juice which Im
not really sure if it was tea or not. We asked and she just said juice but Im
not to sure about that.. Anyways, we had a great lesson with her and right when
we were about to leave she gave us $10. We told her that we couldnt take the
money but she got really mad and yelled at us so we took the money and are
going to put it in the fast offerings at church. Great time!!

2. We saw an alligator this week. Super cool.

3. My comp and I talk in Kuna to each other. Its great
haha..

Well my faith has just been growing and growing so much here
on the mission. Im sooo greatful for this 18 months that I have to learn and
grow. I love you all and miss you sooo much. We are going to go each American
food right now and speak in English with some members right now. Have a great
week everyone. Oh and happy late Birthday to my mom!! Love you mom!!!

Monday, July 13, 2015

So this week has really been fillid
with wonderful adventures!! So lets just start off with a few.

This week my comp was filling a little sick so we took it
easy and let her rest. As the day went on she got sicker. She was having
diarrea a lot and was not eating. She hadnt drunk anything that day and was
filling really weak. She was looking really pale and was really
dehydrated from not eating or drinking all day with a mix of the diarrea. She
was looking pretty bad so I gave the nurse a call.

The nurse said that I needed to get my comp to the hospital
NOW! Well problema with that... we are on an island. I called our Zone Leaders
and they talked to our misión president. He called me and told me to bring my
comp to the city ASAP. So we tried everything to get her there but we couldnt.
We ended up going to the Centro de Salud, a medical center on one of the
islands. They gave her an IV as everyone sat and watched the soccer game. Very
disfunctional doctor. My mom and dad would have been upset if they were there.
So my comp didnt have her mom there with her so I played mom haha. I yelled at
the doctors for not watching my comp and not being worried about her. So they
got focused and helped her out.

She felt a little better the next day but was still really
sick so we called our misión president and he told us to come into the city. We
came in that next morning and went to the hospital. They took some samples of
blood and other weird things and then gave her an IV as we waited for the
results. They said it was a some type of infection but we knew that wasnt
right. So today we went back to the doctor and got some more test. She ended up
having a bacterial infection. She is doing much better today and has to drink
LOTS of fluids. Just pray for her!

So now we are in the city and will be here for about 8 days
or so until we know changes again.

I am also really happy that my little 8 year old brother got
baptized this week. He is sooo big!! SO cute!! And So bad haha. I love him.

I miss you all and I know that this church is true!! This is
the ONLY true church on the face of the earth!

Monday, July 6, 2015

So this week, as always has been filled with adventures.
we had the chance to eat a hamburger and let me just say... it was AMAZING!

haha... I kept smelling this that smelled like chili dogs
and pizza but I think something is just wrong with me haha.

So this week we ran out of water again so we missed a FHE
that we had planned because the water came and we freaked out because we didn't
have water to shower with or to wash clothes. So we kind of skipped the FHE to
fill up this bucket that we have with water and to wash clothes. It was quite
the adventure. The water came out looking pretty clean this time, not as brown
as the other times. So all the people drunk the water. But I guess they are
used to it so they wont get sick.Well actually almost everyone on the island is
sick. They either have some type of infection or they have a cold or something.
We are filling a little under the weather as well but nothing to bad.

This week was a very hard week for both my comp and I. We
worked hard the whole week to only have 40 people show up to church. They all
didn't even stay for all three hours. Just the first hour and they all left. By
the end of church there were only 5 people. It was also a bit hard because it
was the 4th of July and we had nothing to celebrate with because we are on an
island. But we have been fasting and praying for help so we know that Heavenly
Father hears us.

This week I have really submitted my will to the Lord. I
have come to figure out may of things and I am so grateful for my savior Jesus
Christ. My testimony is just growing and I don't want it to stop. I have
learned a lot of Christ like things on my mission and hope to come home with
these attributes.